Band History

Not since the Beatles' "Revolver" has there been a band that has created...

Oompa, Loompa, Doopity-doo...

[insert obligatory, over-blown, pretentious band history]

Two Philadelphia area musicians, Jeff Miller and Buzz Saylor, formed Simon Apple with the intentions of writing material that combined their favorite elements of pop, rock, and jazz, coupled with positive, hopeful, spiritual, thought-provoking, and sometimes humorous messages.

In early 1998, Simon Apple independently released their first single, "It's Over", taken from their debut CD From The Toybox. By April, "It's Over" had climbed to #21 nationally, on the Adult Contemporary Gavin chart(kept out of the Top 20 by Mariah Carey by only 24 spins). By late summer, their second single, "A Boy Like Me", broke the A/C Gavin Top 30 again (reaching #29). A third 'seasonal' single, "Scenes Of December", also received national airplay (reaching #43).

In 1999, lead singer John Feldmann left the band because of his inability to tour with his new-found family responsibilities. After 16 pain-staking months and 800+ vocal demos later, Jeff and Buzz finally found the voice they were searching for...in Portland, Maine of all places! Enter Stage Left - Dan Merrill...

After almost 2 years in the making, Simon Apple's long awaited follow-up album, River To The Sea, was released in October 2004. The album is also graced by some world-renowned guest artists that the Apple have admired and been fans of for years: bassist Tony Levin(Peter Gabriel, King Crimson, John Lennon), guitarist Buck Dharma(Blue Oyster Cult), saxophonist John Helliwell(Supertramp), cellist Hugh McDowell(Electric Light Orchestra), bassist Steve Rodby(Pat Metheny Group), and trumpeter Dave Stahl(Buddy Rich, Frank Sinatra, Harry Connick, Jr.). In addition, the album was mixed by Grammy-winning producer/engineer, David Leonard(credits include: Paul McCartney, Rush, Tony Bennett, Prince, Barenaked Ladies, kd lang, Avril Lavigne, Bruce Hornsby, Toto, John Mellencamp, to name a few). Needless to say, the band was extremely flattered and honoured by the participation of these great artists.

River To The Sea yielded the band's first U.S. Top 10 single in December of 2005 - Hold Me [Like A Lover]. (#10 A/C FMQB). River To The Sea has also received critical acclaim worldwide, including four nominations and one award in the 2006 Just Plain Folks Awards: Best Contemporary Song ("Hold Me"), Best Rock Song ("Leap Of Faith"), Best Rock Album ("River To The Sea"), and winner for Best Male Vocalist (Dan Merrill). [Just Plain Folks is a worldwide music organization of over 40,000 independent musicians, songwriters, publishers, and record labels. Nominations were selected from over 25,000 albums and 350,000 songs.]

Simon Apple has been invited to perform at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia for Billy Joel three times, Elton John twice, Bruce Springsteen, Cher, Creed, Depeche Mode. They have performed to stadium crowds of 65,000, small intimate acoustic venues, churches, open-air music festivals, and all points in between...